


“How can I say I love you?”

by Green_Sphynx



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Drama & Romance, M/M, all dem elves, also elves without commitment problems, elves with commitment problem
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-30
Updated: 2017-10-30
Packaged: 2019-01-26 21:42:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12566816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Green_Sphynx/pseuds/Green_Sphynx
Summary: Zevran needs some time to figure out how to express his love





	“How can I say I love you?”

**Author's Note:**

> One of the drabbles written as part of my July challenge 2016

There are many ways to say ‘I love you’. Zevran likes to think himself good with words, and never expected to find trouble expressing himself. And yet…

No simple 'I love you’ or 'let me be with you’ seems fitting for someone like his Warden.

“I am yours.”

Nin gives him this small amused smile, eyes soft and so caring it aches in Zevran’s chest. Green eyes too large, too much emotion showing clear as day. Nin didn’t need to return the words for Zevran to know.

“You are your own man now, Zev.”

“And I give myself to you,” he argued. “I can do that now, yes?”

“I suppose you can.”

And it wasn’t enough. He loved Nin, Nin loved him back, but no words did this feeling justice. It was too much to fit in a four letter word. It was too much for only such a wholesome surrender.

Besides, it was usually his frail elven mage surrendering to _him_ , in the most delicious ways.

So he tried that too. Kissed out the words on Nin’s pale skin, finding each freckle and mole and crease of skin - too few of any to profess his love on.

He drew the letters on Nin’s back, soft caresses while sinking deep into the elf beneath him, or on top of him, or pressed against his chest. Slow thrusts combined with soft touches and sweet nothings in a long and elegant ear, until his Nin was begging for more and harder and faster.

It wasn’t enough.

So he showed it in fighting instead. Each wretched darkspawn even looking at _his_ Warden slain with a quick stab to the kidneys, heart, throat. He killed and assassinated whatever threatened his love. He killed and slaughtered anything threatening the ones his love cared for. He was a whirlwind in the field of angry daggers hungry for more blood.

And when the fight was over, Nin would practically fly to his side and rip his leathers off, using his own robes to rub the blood off Zevran’s face and his wounds. Frantic, panicked, breathing even harsher than during the fight, worrying for Zevran.

“I won’t let you catch the Blight,” he muttered, scrubbing furiously with a slightly muddy corner of his cloak at the blood clinging to the column of Zevran’s throat. “I won’t let you fall ill from an incurable disease, no matter what.”

And Zevran would smile, his eyes soft and so loving it ached, stomach fluttering excitedly under Nin’s desperate care. More so even than when they were sharing a bedroll.

Nin loved him, and he loved Nin back. But it wasn’t enough. He needed to express this feeling better.

The hurt in those expressive green eyes was like a stab to the chest, when Zevran announced he’d be leaving Denerim for a while. It hurt so bad, but it was necessary. He couldn’t continue to live carelessly, ignoring the Crows hunting him and endangering his Warden by it.

Nin accepted it with little argument, which was the knife being turned. His Warden wouldn’t have him leave but-

“You are your own man, Zev. But I’ll miss you.”

So finally, when he returned a year later, he learned the right words. No words. He followed his Warden to Amaranthine and to the recently assaulted Keep, anger and despair wrenching his gut because he hadn’t been there to protect his Warden. He hadn’t been there to get drenched in Darkspawn blood and be furiously scrubbed clean by a worried elf.

But he was here now, and those large green eyes told him that this was what he had meant to express all along. Happiness, relief, excitement. _Exhilaration_.

“I am yours.”

_I love you._

_You returned to me._

“Thank you.”


End file.
